Method of equipping wire line drums with spacing strips



April 1953 R. R. CROOKSTON 2,633,629

METHOD OF EQUIPPING WIRE LINE DRUMS WITH SPACING STRIPS Filed NOV. 1, 1950 rg f I' IIYIII ll/ MM 1/ WZWN W INVENTOR- Roberf R. Crooksfon,

FIG. 5.

TTORNE X half number of turns.

Patented Apr. 7, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

V ME'i'HOD OF :VIRE LINE DRUMS WITH SPACING STRIPS Robert R. Crook ston, Houston, Tex., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Standard Oil Development Company, Elizabeth, N. J a corporation of Delaware Application November 1, 1950, Serial No. 193,461

This application is directed to a method of equipping hoisting drums with spacing strips for guiding the first layer of wire rope wound on the drum into the form of a true helix.

When wire rope is to be wound or spooled on a drum, such as the draw works drum or sand reel of a rotary drilling rig, it is desirable to prepare the drum so that the first layer of rope wound on the drum has exactly N or N plus one- It is known that drums may be prepared for so receiving the first layer of wire rope by cutting a helical or substantially helical groove on the cylindrical surface of the drum with the grooves spaced the recommended pitch for a selected size of wire rope. However, this has the disadvantage of difiiculty in machining the drum and further in limiting the drum to use only with the selected size of wire rope.

The device of the present application involves another size of wire rope.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be seen from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawing in which Fig. 1 is an elevation showing an embodiment of a draw works drum with one embodiment of spacing strips attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a view of the drum of Fig. 1 showing a first layer of wire line wrapped in a helix thereon;

Fig. 3 is a view of one of the spacing strips removed from the drum of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view of another embodiment of a spacing strip adapted to be attached to a drum; and

Fig. 5 is a view of another embodiment of a spacing strip adapted to be attached to a drum.

Turning now specifically to the drawing and first to Figs. 1 and 2 a conventional hoisting drum spool A with cylindrical portion H and flanges l2 and i3 is provided with a conventional starter strip I4 adjacent fiange i2 and a conventional filler strip adjacent flange 63. It is known to the art to use starter strips and filler strips in order to fill up the space between the flanges of the drum so that the first layer of wire line of selected size will take the shape of a 1 claim. (01. 29-159) 2 V helix with the recommended pitch for each row and so that the wire makes exactly N or N plus one-half turns on the spool.

Mounted on drum A are spaced spacing'strips I6. These spacing strips may be attached to the drum by any suitable means such as welding, brazing or with screws or bolts. It will usually be found preferable, however, to attach the strips by tacking them on with weldsuwIn order to simplify the showing in thejdrawing, the specific means for attaching strips lBflto drum it have not been shown. Strips 16 are fabricated with grooveswhich have their-lines spaced apart at the recommended pitch :for the size of wire line to be wound on the spool. The

spacing strips are arranged on the drumwith the center lines of corresponding grooves defining a helix'so that when a wire rope'ofythe selected diameter for which the spacing strips, starter strip and filler strip are designed is wound on the drum it takes exactly N or N'plus'onehalf turns on the drum with the pitch between adjacent rows within the recognized tolerances.

art that the preparation of the first layer of'the wire rope on the drum is of paramountimportance and that after the first layer has been wound on the .drum properly, other. layers may be added without requiring the guidancebf starter strips and spacing strips.

In Fig. 2 the drum of Fig. 1 is shown with wire rope of the selected size wound in the first layer. It will be seen that the starter strip, spacing strip and filler strips have guided the first layer into the shape of a helix with the pitch between the rows of wire within the recommended limits.

The spacing strips It shown in Fig. 1 are shown in side view in Fig. 3. These spacing strips may be made by placing rectangular bars of metal of the desired width and depth on the bed of a milling machine and milling the grooves to the size required. As previously explained, the prepared bars may be attached on the drum in any conventional manner. The advantage of welding is that if the strips do not fit exactly between the flanges of the drum (or between the starter strip filling strips as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) this can be readily corrected. If the spacing strips are too short (by as great an amount as of an inch for a 42 inch drum) the strip may be made to fit by tacking one end with a weld adjacent one flange, then heating the spacing strip with the welding torch to make it expand until the free end touches the other flange and then fastening the free end of the heated strip'by a' weld; The welds then hold the strip in position on the drum and since the strip has expanded uniformly throughout its length, the grooves are spaced uniformly. It is necessary that the grooves be spaced uniformly.

along the strip although there is considerabletolerance as far as the individual grooves are concerned. If the length of the spacing strip is slightly excessive for the lengthof the drum,

a correction may be made-by-placin'g thelongitudinal axis of the strip slanting or at an angle with the longitudinal axisof the drum. Here again the grooves of the spacing strips arranged around the periphery ofthe drum will guide the first layer of a wire line-into the form of a helix when-it -is-wound on the drum.

- Rig. 4 shows another embodiment of spacing strips suitable for use in the presentlinvention. In-thisembo'diment the spacing strips. l]. are of rather thin section sothat they may advantageouslybe formed bypressing strips into the desired shape with the useof suitable dies. In applying spacing strips of the embodiment of Fig.4: toahoisting drum,.they may be secured longitudinally to adrum in thesame manner as the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 and have the same advantage as the spacing strips l6 previously described. That is1to say; a spacing strip l1 if too -shortlmay'be.made to.fit by welding one end adjacent. the-flange of. the.drum,.then heating: thestrip with a welding torch until the. free end touches the other flange of the drum and thentackingsaid free end witha weldin exactly, the same. manner as describedin the embodimentof Figs..1. to.3. Similarly, if: a strip. H has an excessive. length it may. be made. to fit by placing it-slantingon the drum. An additional advantage in the. embodiment oiLFig. 4. is that it is-sufiiciently flexible sov that if its length is slightly excessive it may be madeto fitby tackingone=endto-a flange of the drum: andthen forcing-the other end into position, thatis, by

distorting the strip slightly throughout its length so that thespacing between thecenter lines of the. grooves remains. substantially, equal.

Another embodiment of a spacing. strip is shownin Fig, 5. In Fig. the spacing strip. l8

has a corrugated or sinuous crosslsectionwith thewcentersof radii above. the..strip being spaced apart the recommended pitch for the size of wire line to be used with the drum to which the strips are applied. The embodiment of Fig. 5 may be used in exactly the same way as that of Fig. 4. Accordingly, the description of methods for applying it to the drum and of using the'drum to which it is applied will. notberepeatedi It will be seen that the present invention involves an inexpensive method for preparing the surface of a hoisting drum for receiving the first layer of wire line which assures that the first layer will take the desired helical form. By using, the method with the present invention a hoisting drum may be prepared for one size of wire line and if at some future time it is desired to use a different wire line, the drum may easily be prepared for such purpose by removing the spacing strips (and starter and filler strips if such are used) and replacing with members designed for the new size of wire line.

Having fully described and illustrated-the'preferred embodiments of the present invention, what I desire to claim as new and useful and to secure by Letters Patent is:

A method of preparing a flanged hoisting drum having a cylindrical surface of fixed length between its flanges which comprises applying to said cylindrical surface a plurality of transversely grooved distortable strips to extend generally lengthwise of said cylindrical surface, physically distorting said strips to match their lengthwise extent to the said fixed length of said cylindrical surface and attaching said strips to said surface to maintain said distorted condition thereof, whereby the grooves of all the strips soapplied to said drum substantially equidistantly divide the space between said flanges and positively determine the pitch of the turns of the initial layer of strand Wound on said drum.

ROBERT R. CROOKSTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 562,644 McEwen June 23, 1896 756,851 Hartweg Apr. 12, 1904 812,063 Merchant Feb. 6, 1906 1,166,536 Munsinger Jan. 4, 1916 1,570,061 Henricks Jan-16,1926 1,700,181 Russell Jan. 29, 1929 2,420,050 Maude Mar. 21, 1945 

